INF nuclear treaty: Russia follows US in suspending pact
The INF Treaty was signed in 1987, by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. As part of this treaty, both sides agreed to arms control deals and banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges, except sea-launched weapons.
This treaty ended the “Cold war” between Russia and the United States. However, this last Friday, the United States accused Russia of violating the treaty and announced the suspension of their obligations under the agreement and also gave to Russia 60 days to return to compliance of the treaty.
The NATO Secretary, General Jens Stoltenberg, said to the BBC that all European Allies will take the U.S. side because they agreed that Russia has violated the treaty for many years.
On the other hand, Mr. Putin also confirmed their suspensions from their side until future negotiations. It does not look like Mr. Putin would change his mind regarding nuclear missiles. In fact, he also communicated Russia’s intentions of continuing working on new weapons, such as a land-based version of Russian’s sea-launched Kalibr cruise missile and new hypersonic weapons that travel more than five times the speed of sound. Finally, Mr. Putin clarified that they don’t want to get involved in an expensive arms race, but they would not deploy short- and medium-range missiles unless the US deploys its weapons first.
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